AETNA.
This poem, in 645 hexameter lines, is attributed to Virgil in the MSS., but is probably by Lucilius Iunior, to whom Seneca addresses his Epistulae Morales, De Providentia, and Quaestiones Naturales. Lucilius was younger than Seneca (Sen. Ep. 26, 7, ‘iuvenior es’), and was born at Naples or Pompeii.
Sen. Ep. 49, 1, ‘Ecce Campania et maxime Neapolis ad Pompeiorum tuorum conspectum incredibile est quam recens desiderium tui fecerint.’
Lucilius had held procuratorial offices in Alpes Graiae et Poeninae, Epirus, Creta et Cyrene, and Sicily.
Ibid. 44, 2, ‘Eques Romanus es et ad hunc ordinem tua te perduxit industria.’ Ibid. 31, 9, ‘Quo modo, inquis, isto pervenitur? Non per Poeninum Graiumve montem, nec per deserta Candaviae, nec Syrtes tibi nec Scylla aut Charybdis adeundae sunt, quae tamen omnia transisti procuratiunculae pretio.’[80]
Sen. N.Q. iv. praef. 1, ‘Delectat te, Lucili, Sicilia et officium procurationis otiosae.’
For his life cf. also the words put into his mouth by Sen. N.Q. iv. praef. 15-17, which show his loyalty to his friends, ‘Non mihi in amicitia Gaetulici (died A.D. 39) vel Gaius fidem eripuit, non in aliorum persona infeliciter amatorum Messalla et Narcissus ... propositum meum avertere potuerunt.... videbam apud Gaium tormenta, videbam ignes.’[81]
Seneca speaks of him as a pupil in philosophy in Ep. 34, 2, ‘Adsero te mihi: meum opus es.’
A literary work of his is spoken of by Seneca, also a poem in which he mentions Alpheus and Arethusa:
Ep. 46, 1, ‘Librum tuum, quem mihi promiseras, accepi. Levis mihi visus est, cum esset nec mei nec tui corporis, sed qui primo adspectu aut T. Livi aut Epicuri posset videri.... Non tantum delectatus, sed gavisus sum.’
N.Q. iii. 26, 6, ‘Hoc et a te traditum est ut in poemate, Lucili carissime, et a Vergilio, qui adloquitur Arethusam.’
A poem on Aetna is referred to in Ep. 79, 5-7, ‘Donec pudor obstet, ne Aetnam describas in tuo carmine et hunc sollemnem omnibus poetis locum adtingas; quem quo minus Ovidius tractaret, nihil obstitit, quod iam Vergilius impleverat ... Aut ego te non novi aut Aetna tibi salivam movet: iam cupis grande aliquid et par prioribus scribere.’
Some authorities think that Lucilius had meant to incorporate this description in a larger poem, but changed his mind, and wrote a poem on Aetna alone.
As regards the date of the poem: (1) It was written at a time when imitation of Ovid was common. Cf. Sen. N.Q. iv. 2, 2, ‘Quare non cum poeta meo iocor et illi Ovidium suum impingo?’ (2) There is no mention of Vesuvius in the list of volcanoes in 1. 425 sqq. The poem must therefore have been written before A.D. 79.
The following are the arguments for Lucilius having been the author:
(1) The poem was written by one who knew Aetna and the vicinity. Now Lucilius was long procurator of Sicily.
(2) Military metaphors, as ll. 464-74, would fit in with his having been a soldier.
(3) The author speaks as if he knew the neighbourhood of Naples well.
(4) However, the argument that the writer shows Epicurean views, and that Lucilius was an Epicurean, has little weight. (a) There are Stoical doctrines in the poem. Cf. ll. 33-5, 68-70, on the divinity of the stars; ll. 173-4, which maintain that the world would come back to its former state; ll. 536-9, where Heraclitus’ doctrine of fire is recommended. (b) The Epistulae Morales only show that Lucilius had a leaning to Epicureanism, not that he was an Epicurean. Cf. Ep. 23, 9, ‘Vocem tibi Epicuri tui reddere,’ and other playful references.
(5) The views on natural science given in the poem are sometimes the same as those in Sen. N.Q. This would fix the date of the poem between 65 and 79 A.D. Cf. Aetna, 123,
‘Flumina quin etiam latis currentia rivis
occasus habuere suos: aut illa vorago
derepta in praeceps fatali condidit ore
aut occulta fluunt tectis adoperta cavernis
atque inopinatos referunt procul edita cursus’;
and Sen. N.Q. iii. 26, 3, ‘Quaedam flumina palam in aliquem specum decidunt et sic ex oculis auferuntur, quaedam consumuntur paulatim et intercidunt. Eadem ex intervallo revertuntur recipiuntque et nomen et cursum.’ Cf. also Aetna, 96,
‘Defit namque omnis hiatu,
secta est omnis humus penitusque cavata latebris
exiles suspensa vias agit’;
and Sen. N.Q. v. 14, 1, ‘Non tota solido contextu terra in imum usque fundatur, sed multis partibus cava et caecis suspensa latebris.’ So the story of the Catanian brothers (ll. 624-45) is told by Sen. De Benef. iii. 37, 2-3.
Imitations of Lucretius abound. Cf. ll. 219 sqq.,
‘Nunc quoniam in promptu est operis natura solique,
unde ipsi venti, quae res incendia pascit,’ etc.
For the author’s attacks on superstition, cf. ll. 91-3,
‘Debita carminibus libertas ista; sed omnis
in vero mihi cura: canam quo fervida motu
aestuet Aetna novosque rapax sibi congerat ignes.’
A version of the Phaenomena of Aratus is extant, the author of which is called in the MSS. ‘Claudius Caesar,’ or ‘Germanicus.’ He is generally identified with Germanicus, the adopted son of Tiberius (so Jerome and Lactantius), though in modern times the poem has been ascribed to Domitian, who had the title of ‘Germanicus’ from A.D. 84. There are also fragments of Prognostica, which are independent of Aratus.